1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector of the type having a male element (plug) and a female element (jack) which elements are joined by pushing the elements together or separated by pulling them apart, and, in particular, to a coaxial cable electrical connector which requires a lower connection-disconnection force than conventional connectors while still maintaining effective electrical connection of the plug and jack elements.
2. Description of Related Art
The need to connect electrical wires and, in particular, coaxial cables, is well-known in the art. Typically, each cable has a connector at one end and the connectors are mated together by insertion of one into the other. The cables and connectors may be retained together by means of threaded members. For some applications, however, quick connect-disconnect connectors are required whereby the cables are connected without the use of external locking means such as threaded members but are held together by forcing the two connectors together and disconnected by pulling them apart. For such axially engaged connectors, it is required that there be a positive locking means such as a split ring to prevent accidental unmating of the connectors resulting from tension applied to the connector cables.
In general, locking features have generally been expensive and typically require additional connector parts such as sleeve locks, etc. and a number of patents have been issued in this area.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,336,566 to Barker discloses a microwave push-on connector including an isolation ring 31. The isolation ring is intended to prevent signal leakage out of the small gaps found in conventional push-on connectors. The isolation ring includes two components, each having multiple fingers 36 and 37 which are arranged so that the gaps between adjacent fingers are covered by the underlining or overlying ring. U.S. Pat. No. 3,793,610 to Brishka discloses an axially mating connector with a split ring 70 having chamfered edges. U.S. Pat. No. 5,195,904 to Cyvoct discloses a coaxial electrical connector having a split annular keeper 18 of a generally v-shaped cross-section with a truncated apex.
An important application using a quick connect-disconnect female and male connector is to connect a coaxial cable or other cable to a printed circuit board. The printed circuit board has a mating connector attached thereto (typically the female connector) and the cable is connected to the male connector and is connected or disconnected by applying an axial force to the male connector and the female connector attached to the printed circuit board. The cables and connectors are relatively small and the connectors are usually less than about 1/4 inch although larger sized connectors may be employed and are contemplated herein. It is important that the connect and particularly the disconnect force be relatively low to prevent damage to the board.
Bearing in mind the problems and deficiencies of the prior art, it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a plug connector and a jack connector for connecting electrical wires, e.g., coaxial cables, which connectors may be mated by forcing them together or disconnected by pulling them apart and which connectors provide an inexpensive positive locking means to prevent accidental unmating of the connectors and which require a relatively low force to connect-disconnect the connectors compared to prior art connectors.
A further object of the invention is to provide as an article of manufacture, a split spring ring which is used with a plug connector and a jack connector to lock the plug connector and jack connector together, e.g., coaxial cable connectors, and which ring allows connection and disconnection of the connector using a relatively lower force than conventional split spring rings.
Another object of the invention is to provide as an article of manufacture a cable secured to a connector, which connector may be connected to another mating connector or disconnected from another mating connector by an axial force.
Still other objects and advantages of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part be apparent from the specification.